The invention relates to methods for treating a biological cell. Furthermore, the invention relates to devices for carrying out such methods and their uses.
Several methods for the invasive manipulation of biological cells are known from cell biology. For example, a disruption of the cell membrane and/or a penetration into the cell plasma is necessary when introducing an electrode tip into a cell membrane for the “patch clamp”-technique or during the introduction of a cannula into the cell for the removal of nucleic material. These techniques generally have the disadvantage that a gap is produced in the molecular compound of at least the cell membrane with the invasive intervention into the cell, as a result of which the cell is as a rule no longer viable after the particular manipulation. In order to nevertheless retain the viability, only minimal injuries to the cell membrane should be made with the conventional techniques (e.g., in the micrometer range or less). However, this imposes a significant limitation in the ability to apply the conventional techniques.
Another invasive cell manipulation is the fusion of biological cells. In order to carry out a fusion the cell membranes of adjacent cells are disrupted chemically (e.g., by certain substances or with viruses) or electrically (e.g., with a high voltage pulse) and re-melted or healed in such a manner that cell components of the individual cells are contained in a common, closed cell membrane. The conventional fusion techniques have the disadvantage that an exact and defined cell fusion between two predetermined cells is not available. It was previously necessary to expose a plurality of cells to the particular chemical or electrical treatment for cell fusion and to then sort out the desired fusion products from the treated cells. However, false handlings or undesired multiple fusions (e.g., three-cell or four-cell fusions) can occur. However, this is associated with a significant loss of possibly rare or valuable cells.
A method for the gentle treatment of cell material with a plurality of biological cells is known from WO 2004/074426 in which a probe is moved through the cell material in such a manner that the cells are moved by the probe. Injury to the cells is avoided by the control of the probe described in WO 2004/074426. However, invasive interventions into the cells are not provided in this technique.
The invention has the objective of providing improved methods for treating biological cells, in particular individual cells, cell pairs or cell groups, with which the disadvantages of the conventional techniques can be overcome and that feature in particular a protective handling of the cell material, high reliability and precision and a high yield. The invention also has the objection of providing improved devices for carrying out such methods.